The Rescue of One
by catsmeow79
Summary: The is just a little alternate reality scene from "The Murder of One", my take on how Damon was rescued from Rebekah's clutches.
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note__: I just finished watching The Murder of One and I really wish Elena had been the one to rescue Damon, so I went ahead and re-wrote it that way :-) My story is within the show canon, this scene takes place after Stefan, Elena and Matt manage to stake Finn and before Sage attacks the Salvatore boarding house and the gang figures out the whole line dies if an Original dies_.

**Warning**: _I'm trying something different here_, _this is just a gap-filler replacing the section between the gang staking Finn and when Stefan and Elena have their heart to heart at the end of the epsiode, I'm not really changing the direction of the show, just giving Damon and Elena some more alone time. I will not be resolving anything, and it will be ending abruptly and perhaps unsatisfactorily for Delena fans_. _It's basically still leading into the show's upcoming roadtrip ep S3E19._

_Please leave a review and let me know what you think of my little experiment :-)_

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**Part 1 of 2**

As he came back to himself slowly, Damon opened his eyes warily, surveying his surroundings. Hours must have passed since Rebekah had brought him here, the sun no longer shown through the windows, leaving the room blanketed in darkness.

Damon wasn't certain how much time had elapsed since his capture or even if he was actually conscious at this moment, he had been hallucinating on and off all afternoon. In between the searing pain shooting downward from his wrists and radiating throughout his entire body and the fog clouding his brain, Damon became dimly aware of a voice speaking somewhere nearby.

Under normal circumstances it would have been a simple task to use his highly-developed hearing to eavesdrop, but right this minute his muddled brain was not cooperating. He wondered fuzzily if Rebekah had drugged him with something special in addition to merely bleeding the vervain from his system during their extended torture-session. Trying to fight through the pain, Damon willed himself to focus, attempting to pick out the words that Rebekah was saying.

"_That's not possible!_" she shrieked from several rooms away, the words reaching Damon's ears only due to the raised volume of her apparent hysteria.

Damon could hear Rebekah pacing angrily as she spoke, the vibrations of her heels on the marble floor assaulting his over-sensitized nerves and causing him to wince with every step she took. It was hard to make out anymore of the conversation over the excruciating pain.

"_I'll be right there_" she yelled angrily as she ended the call.

Suddenly, Rebekah was speeding in his direction. As she appeared in front of him, gone was the casual look of the woman who had been enjoying the infliction of slow and calculated pain all day. Instead, her eyes now held a burning fury and Damon swallowed hard at the look of utter mayhem swirling like a tsunami in the green globes.

Rebekah gave him an appraising stare before glancing to the sideboard where various sharp implements lay carefully arranged for her use. Ignoring the knife she had favored all day, she grabbed a wooden stake, approaching him quickly.

"_If this is true, Elena will die SO slowly . . ._ ." Rebekah promised, shoving the stake into his belly with such force that the other end stuck out his back ". . . . _that THIS will look like a day at the beach_" she sneered, leaving the stake where she'd plunged it and speeding out of the house furiously.

Damon could hear the car engine start and the tires peel across the pavement as she pulled out of the driveway. He waited until she was gone before letting out an agonized yell. The wood was burning him alive from the inside but he refused to give Rebekah the satisfaction of seeing him sweat.

It was hard to tell how much time had passed as he hung there helplessly, it could have been only a minute as he could barely remain conscious as the wood weakened him from within. Just as the increasing darkness threatened to take him, Damon felt himself jerk awake - he had heard something. He listened carefully, willing himself to concentrate . . . footsteps, but not the sharp painful click of Rebekah's heels, these were the soft footfalls of sneakers. Damon recognized that sound, he knew who they belonged to even before he saw her appear, he knew everything about her. Forcing his eyes open, he lifted his head weakly. The light from the hallway illuminated her silhouette as she crept quietly (or tried to) into the room.

Elena couldn't stop herself from gasping audibly, her breath catching in her throat as she saw Damon hanging from the ceiling. On the drive over, she had tried to steel herself against what she might find, tried to prepare herself, knowing Rebekah would not have been kind. Now, as she entered the darkened room, Elena found herself wholly unprepared for the sight before her.

The room was filled with the metallic smell of blood - Damon's blood, it assaulted her nose as she entered. His body was still covered in it, dried rivers of blood streaking down the expanse of his chest. Even though the wounds themselves, having been inflicted over many hours had healed quickly, the evidence remained, staining his skin a dark crimson. Damon was hanging from chains attached to the ceiling, trapped by two metal traps - each piercing the flesh of his wrists, leaving him suspended in place. As she moved closer, Elena saw a wooden stake protruding from his stomach.

"_Oh my god_" she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

Elena rushed across the room toward Damon, forgetting to be silent momentarily as fear overtook her. She needed to get the stake out. It was nowhere near his heart, but it was weakening his ability to heal. Wrapping one arm around his waist for leverage, Elena struggled to pull the stake from his stomach while keeping him from swinging away from her. Damon looked down at her with glassy unfocused eyes as she struggled. Elena couldn't tell for sure if he was even aware that she was there. She struggled for several minutes, but the force Rebekah had used to drive the stake in combined with the fact that Damon's body was swaying precariously prevented Elena from getting the leverage she needed.

"_Elena_" he gasped weakly, groaning in pain as she struggled to remove the wood from his belly.

Damon had been feeling cold, really really cold and then he had felt her arm curl around his midsection. Elena's head rested beside his shoulder, her hair falling in silky waves across his skin, tickling it as she pressed herself against him. He was vaguely aware that she was struggling, trying to keep from jostling him, but the tantalizing smell of her strawberry shampoo distracted him from crystalizing his thoughts any further than the pleasant tingling spreading warmth through his skin.

"_Hey there_" she murmured in reply, still concentrating single-mindedly on the task at hand.

This was not working, not matter how hard she pulled, she wasn't strong enough to dislodge the stake. Finally, Elena decided she would have to get Damon down first and then use gravity to help her with the wood.

"_Rebekah_ . . . " Damon trailed off, his head lolling lifelessly to the side as Elena released her hold on his waist.

"_She's not here right now_" Elena tried to murmur soothingly, grunting from the effort she had expended on the stake as she turned her attention to his wrists "_She went out for a bit_"

Damon merely nodded, too weak to protest as the entire room seemed to spin around him.

"_Boy, you really did it this time_" Elena observed, standing on her tiptoes as she reached for the release of the trap that held his left wrist "_Women do not appreciate being treated like disposable playthings, Damon_" she chided as she pried the lever loose.

Damon winced in pain, sucking in a huge breath of air he didn't technically need as Elena released the trap, freeing his one arm but leaving all his weight now hanging on the other temporarily. He could feel the cold metal teeth shredding his muscles and tendons as he hung suspended.

"_Are you lecturing me_?" he asked in surprise, his own voice like sandpaper against his throat. He was a little more awake now, enough to be slightly indignant if he let himself.

Elena was currently trying really hard not to pass out, trying to distract herself from the horror of seeing Damon like this, so helpless and vulnerable. She was trying to remember how mad she was at him right now, trying to give herself the strength to pry him loose by talking about anything but what was actually happening right now.

"_Your lothario ways were bound to catch-up with you eventually_" she observed, trying for indifference but silently cursing her own weakness as several tears streaked down her cheek.

Damon could hear the crack in her voice as she spoke, Elena was scared. She was pretending to be brave, but she was terrified right now. How had he been so distracted that he hadn't noticed the pounding of her heartbeat before this, so loud it was threatening to explode from her chest?

Elena tried her best to support Damon's weight, bracing one arm under him as she reached upward with the other, releasing the catch on the second trap and allowing it to spring open, dropping Damon to the floor. Elena did her best to break his fall, crumpling under his weight, landing them both on the ground. Damon writhed in agony, coughing up blood as he fell, spitting the crimson liquid onto the marble beneath them.

As he looked up at her, Damon could see the tears glistening in Elena's eyes. It seemed, he was forever making her cry.

Elena grabbed the wooden stake again, this time with both hands, successful in pulling it from Damon's body. "_We need to go_" she whispered, kneeling behind him and pushing him to a sitting position "_Can you stand_?" she asked nervously, this was taking entirely too long.

Struggling, Elena was able to help Damon to his feet and leaning heavily on her shoulder, they rushed down the hallway toward the patio door that Elena had used to sneak in to the house undetected. As they stumbled into one of the many drawing rooms, Damon's strength gave out sending both he and Elena crashing to the floor once again.

Elena leaned over him with concern in her eyes, placing her hand gently on his cheek, her face so close to his. It was an intimate gesture, _too_ intimate and suddenly Damon realized what was happening - - Rebekah was teasing him again. This was all a dream, Elena wasn't really here at all. In reality, Stefan would never have let her come alone and risk herself to save his life. And why would Rebekah have left him alone at the house in the middle of her fun? He was an idiot, she'd fooled him again.

"_It's another trick_" he mumbled incoherently, his heart falling as he lay his head back against the floor in defeat.

"_Damon, we need to keep going_" Elena encouraged, slapping his face gently as she struggled to pull him back to a sitting position.

"_Rebekah is messing with my mind_" he said, mostly to himself as he swayed back and forth on his knees as Elena attempted to pull him to his feet "_You're not really here_"

Elena hadn't seen Damon making this little sense since the werewolf bite, he was fighting her now as she tried to help him stand and it was really scaring her. She didn't know where Klaus had gone and she was certain Rebekah would be back to kill Damon once she confirmed that Finn was dead, they didn't have a lot of time.

In his delerious mind, Damon wondered how far Rebekah would let him take this little fantasy before pulling the rug out from underneath him. Deciding to test Rebekah's limits, he pulled Elena down to her knees in front of him. His wrists had healed themselves partially now, but the pain still remained. Ignoring their protest, he threaded his aching hands through Elena's long tresses, pulling her face to his and kissing her passionately. As long as Rebekah was screwing with him, at least he could enjoy it while it lasted.

Elena's mind reeled as Damon kissed her, it was the last thing she'd expected in this moment. She didn't know what he was doing - he was feverish and weak and it seemed as though he thought she were a dream right now. Something about the way Damon was kissing her was so raw and needy, he wasn't being careful as he had on her front porch, this was passionate and dangerous and part of Elena could feel herself getting swept away by the currents of electricity that were passing between them. Elena didn't know what to do to snap him out of this daze, he was pulling her close, trying to climb inside her skin with her.

"_Damon we have to get out of here_" she pleaded, trying to pull away but he wouldn't let her go.

"_Don't leave me_" he begged his voice small, like a child, and it was almost her undoing. When he let himself actually feel, Damon could be so heart-breakingly irresistible.

Elena needed to get Damon's attention, needed to bring him back to reality, but even in his weakened state, he was far stronger than her physically, every time she tried to pull away he fought her, brought her close again. Finally, out of desperation, Elena did the only thing she could think to do . . . she bit him, hard on his lower lip, hard enough to draw blood.

Damon pulled back in surprise if not pain, clarity in his eyes for the first time since she'd arrived. Elena felt guilty instantly for hurting him more than he'd already been hurt, but she had needed to snap him back into reality.

"_Damon, this is __**not**__ a dream_" Elena insisted, looking deep into his eyes. She could see suspicion reflected there.

"_We killed Finn - - Stefan, Matt and I_" Elena explained, "_I got to use the crossbow_" she bragged, a little proud of herself.

Damon blinked several times in rapid succession, trying to focus on what Elena was saying, his eyes drawn to her lips, watching their movement as she spoke.

". . . _but Klaus threatened Jeremy, so Bonnie had already reversed the spell that was linking the originals, so only Finn died_" she continued "_the others are expecting Sage to come looking for revenge pretty shortly, so we don't have much time to get you out of here_" she concluded.

It was bad luck and terrible timing and that was exactly what convinced Damon that Elena wasn't actually a figment of his imagination - - their luck really was **this** bad, they could never catch a break when it came to killing Klaus.

"_Damon, I need for you to help me_" she ordered, her voice taking on an edge of desperation as she tried to help him rise once more "_I can't carry you by myself_"

Damon felt a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. Knowing that Elena was real was almost worse than believing she was a dream - it meant she had been foolish enough to sneak into Klaus' house to rescue him. Terror consumed him as he imagined what Rebekah would do to her if she found them here.

"_Elena, I'm too weak, just get out of here_" he protested feebly.

"_Damon, I am not leaving you_" she insisted, her voice steely "_If you don't help me, Rebekah is going to come back here and kill us __**both**_"

Something sparked inside of Damon at her words, she was so damn stubborn that it was infuriating at times. There were other times when he found it utterly charming, but he would never admit that to her. In this situation, he knew she spoke the truth; Elena _wouldn't_ leave him and Rebekah _would_ kill her, and slowly in her grief over Finn.

Damon gathered his strength and stood shakily. Using Elena for balance, he leaned heavily upon her shoulder as she led him across the conservatory, out the french doors and across the garden, through the hedgerow to where her car was parked. Damon groaned audibly as she dumped him in the passenger seat, trying to be as gentle as possible but failing miserably in the attempt.

As Elena slipped the key into the ignition she could see the LED display on her phone flashing angrily at her - - **_10 missed calls_**! As she navigated away from the curb, the phone began to buzz again with another incoming call - _Stefan_.

tbc

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_Please let me know what you thought of part 1. Part 2 will hopefully be finished this weekend. _


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Here is the conclusion of my little story, I hope you guys enjoy. The recent repeat of Dangerous Liasons reminded me that Damon and Elena never talked about what she said that night, and I think they should._

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**Part 2 of 2**

As Elena slipped the key into the ignition she could see the LED display on her phone flashing angrily at her - - _10 missed calls_! As she navigated away from the curb, the phone began to buzz again with another incoming call - _Stefan_.

"_Hello_" she answered, trying to sound calm in spite of the fact that the adrenaline was still coursing through her body, making her hands shake subtly as they held the steering wheel.

Damon watched with interest from the passenger side, forcing himself to remain conscious as Elena drove, navigating carefully toward the Salvatore boarding house. If he strained, he could hear his brother's panicked voice coming through the speaker.

"_We're both fine,_ _everything worked out just fine_" she repeated, talking slowly and deliberately "_we're headed to your place now_"

Damon struggled to hear what Stefan was saying, but he found himself still so weak that he was unable to complete the usually simple task.

"_Okay, we'll go to my house then_" she answered, her voice taking on a defensive edge

Damon could see the tension in Elena's shoulders as she listened to what Stefan was saying, her knuckles beginning to turn white as they gripped the wheel more tightly. He didn't need to hear their conversation to know they were arguing. Laying his head to back against the seat, Damon allowed his eyes to drift shut.

"_Can we **not** fight about this right now_?" she finally demanded, her voice rising with anger.

Damon's eyes popped open as he came to the sudden and disturbing realization that Elena hadn't told anyone what she was doing, she'd simply disappeared to come rescue him.

"_Fine, call me when you're done_" she finished, hanging up the phone without any pleasantries.

"_Are you crazy_?" Damon demanded the second she'd hung up the phone, his anger giving him a sudden surge of energy "_Coming here by yourself_?"

"_Everyone else was busy with Finn bursting into flames_" she defended, putting on her blinker to turn in the direction of the Gilbert house "_There wasn't a lot of time to strategize, I had a very narrow window while Rebekah was distracted_"

"_You could have been killed_" he insisted quietly, fear replacing the anger that filled his belly as he thought about the prospect of a world without Elena in it.

"_So could you_" she asserted vehemently, her voice catching in her throat at the thought.

Elena felt a twinge of guilt as she glanced sideways at Damon, who was uncharacteristically still beside her. His eyes were open, watching her as she spoke, but they were glassy and unfocused. This was all her fault. Generally, it was all her fault because she was the doppleganger and Klaus was tormenting them **all** because of her. But specifically, _this_ was her fault because she had wounded Damon. She had hurt his feelings the night of the Original's Ball and he'd done what he always did when he got hurt - - the most self-destructive thing imagineable.

Damon had poked the emotionally unstable bear because Elena had so deeply injured the feelings he pretended not to have. She should have apologized sooner, she _would_ have apologized the next morning if Rebekah hadn't been standing there all rumpled and triumphant. Then Bonnie's mother had died and they had gotten back into their uniquely dysfunctional argue/avoid dynamic and here they were now with Damon bleeding all over her car seat.

She took her eyes off the road for a moment to glance furtively over in his direction, his wounds were not healing like they should, Rebekah had clearly drained a lot out of him today.

"_I'm sorry_" she whispered, shaking her head as she looked over at his weakened form.

"_You can't keep taking foolish risks like this_" he managed, somewhat shocked that she wasn't going to argue further.

"_That's not what I meant_" she informed him, shaking her head.

Damon's eyelids felt so heavy, he could barely keep them open but he forced his eyes to find hers. Willing them to focus, he noted the tears that stained Elena's cheeks as the moonlight shone through the car window.

"_What I said the night of Ester's ball_" she began, wiping the tears from her cheek with the back of her hand "_I didn't mean it_"

Damon had no interest in revisiting that painful chapter of their recent history. Elena would forever chose Stefan, he'd always known that in his heart, the night of the ball had simply been another painful reminder of that fact. It was done.

"_It's fine_" he replied dismissively, pulling his eyes away from hers and looking out the window instead.

But Elena would not be deterred, Damon was a captive audience right now and he was going to hear what she had to say whether he wanted to or not.

"_I didn't mean it, I promise_" she repeated, taking her right hand off the wheel and reaching over to brush her fingers gently across his shoulder, trying to get him to look at her.

"_Stefan's back and all is right with the world_" Damon groaned, trying to ignore the lightening bolts of warmth she sent shooting down his arm with her touch as he continued to stare purposefully out the window "_There's no need to rehash it now_"

Elena desperately needed for Damon to understand that his love wasn't a problem for her, it wasn't a liability. They had simply been in the heat of arguing as they always did, he had tossed the confession across the net at her so casually that she had barely realized what was happening before she had returned a caustic retort. She'd known instantly that it was a mistake, she had hurt him deeply and she didn't mean it, but it was too late to take it back, he wouldn't _let_ her take it back.

It had taken Elena longer to figure out that an unconscious part of her really _had_ meant to hurt him, because he had hurt _her_ that night. Damon was behaving like a caveman again, "forbidding" her to meet with Ester alone, acting as though she wasn't allowed to make her own decisions. Historically, Damon had always been protective of her, less likely than Stefan to allow her to take chances. But after everything they'd been through while Stefan was gone, she'd honestly thought they'd move past Damon trying to make decisions for her, she was crushed to realize that night that they hadn't. With everything that had changed for the worse between her and Stefan, at least he still let her make her own choices.

"_You hurt me Damon_" Elena confessed, taking a deep breath "_While Stefan was gone, something shifted between us, we grew closer, and I thought _. . ."

Suddenly, she had his complete and undivided attention, and Damon turned away from the window, his eyes focused keenly on Elena as she struggled to find the right words.

". . . _I thought that you finally trusted me_" she explained, a few stray tears slipping from her eyes as she focused on the road, turning onto her darkened street.

Damon shook his head as she spoke, confusion wrinkling his brow. Elena had been the person to teach him almost single-handedly _how_ to trust. She was the only one in this world that he truly did trust with the possible exception of pre-evil alter-ego Alaric. Where would she have gotten the idea that he didn't trust her?

"_And then, you went all caveman on me again and I realized _. . ." she continued, pulling into her driveway and turning off the engine ". . . . _it doesn't matter what I do, how close we become, you will **never** trust me_"

"_Elena, you are practically the only person in this world that I DO trust_" Damon argued emphatically, his eyes burning into hers, trying to convey his sincerity.

"_No you don't Damon_" Elena insisted, her eyes meeting his with equal fire and certainty "_Because if you did, you would let me make my own decisions instead of trying to control every move that I make_"

They didn't need to settle this tonight, there really wasn't anything **_to_** settle, it was what it was. Elena had merely wanted to apologize for what she'd said that night, and now she had. Shaking her head, fighting back tears that threatened to cascade down her cheeks, she got out of the car and walked over to help pull Damon from the passenger side. Wrapping her arms around his midsection, she helped him walk up the porch stairs. Damon stumbled a bit in the foyer, but Elena kept him from falling, helping him make his way to the couch where he collapsed unceremoniously in a heap.

"_I'll see if we have any blood_" Elena offered, walking down the basement stairs and checking the chest freezer - maybe Caroline had left some the last time they'd had a sleepover?

Damon watched her go, his eyes tracking her movement as she disappeared down the stairs. He hadn't meant to hurt Elena, he absolutely _did_ trust her, unequivically. But sometimes she took reckless chances with her own life, tonight having been a prime example of that fact. Damon simply couldn't stand the idea of her getting herself killed in a foolish attempt to save him or anyone else.

"_No luck_" she relayed, coming back into the living room. Truthfully, she'd already known that would be the case, she purposelly hadn't kept any on-hand due to Stefan's tendency to binge drink, she hadn't wanted him to have the temptation around.

Sitting down beside Damon on the sofa, Elena took his hand in hers, inspecting the wounds around both his wrists - they looked horrible, they'd barely healed at all since she'd released them from the lacerating traps, and the wound on his stomach wasn't much better.

Elena didn't have any idea how long it would be before they could return to the boarding house to get him something to eat, Stefan had been terse and uninformative on the phone, but she'd gotten the impression that something important (and probably not good) had happened. Honestly, she didn't think she could stand to watch Damon suffering this way for much longer, she was used to him being the strong one.

"_Here_" she offered. Her decision made, Elena rolled up the sleeve of her sweater, revealing her wrist to him "_Drink_"

Damon looked at her outstretched limb and then up into her chocolate brown eyes which held not even a hint of uncertainty.

"_Just a little bit_" she insisted, moving her wrist closer to his lips "_To help you heal_"

Damon shook his head, his eyes remaining locked with hers. He vaguely remembered the night he'd bit her in a werewolf-induced stupor, he remembered thinking that she was Katherine, he remembered the sound of Elena's voice ringing in his ears, penetrating the fog and reaching him just in time "Damon you're hurting me", his heart always clenched at that memory. It would have been so easy for him to go too far, he had no self-control as she'd just recently pointed out for the umpteenth time.

Elena could see the emotions warring inside of Damon, she understood why he was hesitant. "_Hey_" she prompted, breaking him from his reverie "_You're bleeding on my couch_" she accused with a mock-serious tone, holding her wrist again in the direction of his lips.

Damon held her gaze, looking for any doubt in her eyes but could find none. Lifting his hand, he let his fingers trail across the skin of her forearm, her warmth sending sparks of electricity tingling all the way up his arm and spreading like wildfire throughout his entire body until everything was humming. Her nearness always had this effect on him, made him feel alive for the first time in a century and a half.

As his fingers moved downward across her wrist, he placed his thumb at the base, angling her hand so he could drink as he brought his lips to her skin. Damon placed an open-mouth kiss on her skin allowing his lower lip to drag it's moisture across her flesh. His eyes never left hers, holding her gaze, ready to stop the second she asked him to.

Elena merely looked at him, staring back certainly as the blood rushed to the surface of his eyes, his fangs dropping into place. Damon could feel Elena's pulse pounding beneath his lips, hear the blood rushing through her body - it was completely intoxicating. He'd wanted to know what she tasted like since practically the moment he'd met her, but more than that he'd wanted Elena to **offer** herself to him.

Elena closed her eyes briefly as his teeth pierced her skin, wincing momentarily before lifting her eyes back up to find his watching her intently. She didn't want Damon to stop, to think he'd hurt her. She wanted, no needed, for him to drink and heal because she couldn't bear to see him looking so vulnerable and wounded. Seeing Damon in pain hurt her far more than the brief sting when he'd bit her had.

Elena could feel a pleasant burning sensation traveling up the length of her arm as Damon drank. It seemed logically as though she should feel cold right now since her blood was leaving her body. It had been cold when Klaus had fed from her, but right now it was warm, very warm. Maybe it had something to do with the heat in Damon's eyes as he watched her with burning intensity, waiting for her to tell him to stop.

After a few moments, he stopped on his own, removing his teeth from her skin and using his tongue to soothe the angry skin, wiping every drop of blood from it's surface before letting go of her wrist. Elena wrapped her other hand around her wrist, applying pressure firmly to stop the bleeding. When she looked up at Damon again, he had already begun to heal.

"_You shouldn't do that_" he cautioned, looking at her seriously "_I could so easily go too far_"

"_I trust you Damon_" she answered simply "_Even if you don't trust me_"

Elena headed into the kitchen, walking over to the freezer and pulling out a package of frozen peas, she wrapped it in a kitchen towel and placed it on her wrist. Damon watched her go, torn between letting things lie between them for right now and setting her straight. It might actually be easier to let her think that he didn't trust her than to confess the truth.

Damon hadn't realized that he was hurting her, hadn't known that Elena was equating concern for her safety with a lack of trust on his part. How could he explain that he _did_ trust her, it was **himself** that he didn't trust. Somewhere along the way without him even realizing it, being the better man for Elena had become less of a burden and more of something that he actually _wanted_. He didn't want to go back to the way he had been before he met her, before she started making things matter again, before she made him feel again.

He'd told Jeremy once that life was easier if you turn off your humanity - that was true, it _was_ easier, but it wasn't **better**. Damon Salvatore was scared, scared of losing Elena and scared of losing himself for another 150 years if something happened to her. It wasn't about trust, it was about survival. He needed for Elena to be safe more than he needed anything else in this world, including her respect.

He could feel her blood coursing through him right now, healing all the broken parts of his body in much the same manner as she'd already healed his fractured soul. Damon watched as Elena pulled the first aid kit from the cabinet, struggling to open the clasp one-handed, her brow furrowed in concentration. Speeding over to stand beside her, he gently brushed her fingers aside, replacing them with his own. Elena had taken care of him already tonight, now it was his turn to take care of her.

"_Here, let me help_" he offered, opening the box easily.

Damon pulled out several gauze pads and a roll of coflex and set them on the counter. He took her hand in his, removing the makeshift ice pack and placing it off to the side. Next he placed several squares of gauze across her wrist, wrapping them in place deftly with the coflex.

Given his often prickly nature, Damon was surprisingly good at nurturing. Elena had found this out the few times she'd needed him to care for her various injuries in the past, and right now was no exception. His fingers danced carefully across her wrist, applying Neosporin and a bandage as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"_Thanks_" she whispered, her eyes locking with his.

"_No problem_" he answered, swallowing hard.

Elena's eyes burned into his, the emotion heavy in the air around them as they stood in her kitchen, his hand still holding hers although the need to had passed. Damon opened his mouth to speak, to tell her what was in his heart, but he never got the chance. . . .

.

.

.

"_We have a MAJOR problem_" Stefan announced, bursting through the front door.

**the end**

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_Author's Note: I took a little literary license there, I like the idea of Elena consciously and deliberately letting Damon drink from her rather than allowing it in the heat of the moment, borne of necessity - I think it's more intimate this way._

_I hope that ending wasn't too disappointing, I wanted to leave it open-ended so that the Stefan/Elena convo at the end of "The Murder of One" could still happen and then whatever roadtrip goodness the writers have planned for this coming Thursday_.

_Please review, it makes me happy_ :-)


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